The Temping Experience Part 1

Assignment 1: Receptionist

As part one to a hopefully short lived topic, this will be the intro into what I embark on along my road to finding success. As someone who, like so many people, is fighting the daily employment battle, I have signed up with a temp agency. Basically they offer me various short term assignments which generally involve filling in for people who are taking a much deserved vacation. Obviously, this is not something that I wish to be doing for very long but I figure that while I am taking the time to find my dream job and get on a career path that will actually lead me somewhere I want to go, I figure I might as well share my experiences. I also hope to learn a little something about the places I’m not so keen on visiting, or staying for an extensive period of time.

Please bare in mind that I write this from a temp point of view and actually have very little insight into what really happens in the places that I visit.

My first assignment was for 4 days and I found myself at the reception desk of a not very busy property management firm.

So property management – what I learnt from my very short visit seems to be full of very full inboxes with very little motivation to go through them. Tenants call you at every opportunity and at any time of day or night because it is your unfortunate duty to care that the ceiling caved in because of rain. Bills, bills, and more bills are on your daily to-do list and those don’t even include the ones you have to pay to keep your own household running.

On to the reception part of this position, and please remember that I say this from a very uneducated point of view and the fact that this generally was a very quiet office. But in saying that, I have the utmost respect for people who take this position on as a full time profession. Not because it is challenging by any means but because it is mind-numbingly boring. OK, so maybe if you are more than just a temp you probably have more day to day responsibilities and you could eventually build up a to-do-list.

For someone in my position, a temp, there are periods of maybe ten minutes when you have to take a call or stuff an envelope but then that’s about it. I find myself sitting there, begging for a box of filing or a storage room to organize, or even for the stupid phone to ring. I was told by various people in the office that this was extremely rare and that the regular lady who works there is constantly busy and the phone is ringing off the hook. I guess I should count myself “lucky” that for those four days that I was standing in all the clients/tenants/suppliers or anyone else who had any vested interest in the company all decided to go on vacation.

People

Now as I may or may not have mentioned before, I am at a critical stage in my career as a wine broker – finding clients. I go on a daily quest to seek out wine drinking, money spending, life living individuals, for me, this means cold calling and turning on the charm and using my genuine love for our products to entice people into my world.

My excitement and love for our wine is not hard to miss and that has proven to be a huge drawing point for most. I mean if this wine is the best thing that I have ever put my lips to the glass for then certainly you need to try it right? Well for some yes, for some it takes a little more persuasion.

The thing is though, that by speaking to an uncountable number of people on a daily basis I am learning a lot about the different types of people out there.

1. The closed-minded Mr. Routine:
This guy knows what he likes and likes what he knows. He is very happy buying his el- cheapo wine from the little guy at the little wine shop down the street. No, the guy behind the counter probably doesn’t know red from white but hell, if he says it’s good it must be. For this guy, no matter how good I make my wine sound he is just not going to budge, even though I know I can get him better juice at a better price.

2. The Mr. I think I know it All:
I kind of like these people because they put up a bit of a fight. They think they know what they like and more importantly what is good. Here’s a tip to you – just because the restaurants charge you $150 per bottle does not mean it’s the best wine in the world. It just means that the restaurant knows that you can afford that price and don’t know any better to rather bring your own wine and pay $50 corkage.

3. The Mrs. I really want to buy but need to ask my husband:
Come on ladies, get it together! Do you ask your husband every time you want to buy a new pair of shoes? A gorgeous handbag? A new dress? I mean how many times do you call him from the mall when on a shopping spree? I’m gonna take a guess…none? You know that you can afford the wine and you know that he’s gonna drink the wine. So why do you need approval to buy the wine? Besides, did he ask your permission when he bought that Mercedes?

4. Mr. I know what I like, Like what I know but am also open to suggestion:
Now these are my favorites. These people know their stuff, they know what they like and where to get it. But they are also willing to try new things. They are always looking for new avenues to get their hands on the juice and they are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. They will listen to you and trust your recommendations as long as you talk their language.

5. Mr. I don’t know what you’re saying but I like the way it sounds:
I love this guy. He loves wine; he just doesn’t know anything about it. This scares him but excites him when you call because he has not found a way to learn and he knows that by trusting you he will get the good stuff that he is going to love. He has the money to try new things and is not afraid to jump in the deep end with you.

6. Mr. I don’t really know what you’re saying but I think I like the way it sounds, I’m just not sure:
This guy is similar to the one prior. He doesn’t know what you’re saying but he likes the way it sounds. He knows he wants to jump in the deep end but he’s a little bit scared. By having the initial conversation you have coaxed him into putting his toe in the water. I like dealing with these people because a little bit of hesitation is always good. After all, if you can hold his hand and lead him into the wonderful world of wine then he will follow you for like and trust your judgment. He just needs some guidance and a soft little push in the right direction.

Of course I just scratched the tip of the ice berg here and there are copious amounts of all sorts of personalities out there. This also doesn’t only apply to my job but to so many out there. Think of the people that you deal with on a daily basis, no matter in what capacity.

The trick with all these people is letting your personality shine through. No one is that set in their ways that a little smile and friendliness cannot bring them out of the darkness and into the light of your world. You need to make them love you and then they will fall in love with what you have to offer.

Life as a Wine Broker

So this is long over due and I’m sorry!

I am finally able to give myself the hard earned title of personal wine consultant! I started my new job about a month ago and have been trying to build my client file and find people who love and appreciate amazing wines.

All the while doing this I have been experiencing the beautiful juice I have been tasked with selling – yes tough job I know.

So the thing about being a wine broker is about loving what you are getting to your clients, and also making sure that you recommend something that you know your client is going to love! And that’s not really hard when you are working with the quality of wines that I am.

I am able to sell (and drink) the top 5% of hand crafted boutique wines in the world. All of our wines are 500 case production or less and have absolutely no extra crap added to them – so that means no more headaches! I am so happy to report that I can officially drink white wine again! Well some at least the ones that come from our wineries as they have no added sulphar! Yay!

The hard part however is getting people to trust you and trust your judgment. It is a daunting thing, buying wine over the phone. Especially when you don’t really know that much about wine. But that is the beauty of working with someone like me. I take the guess work out of wine buying for people. I am literally putting my liver on the line to make sure that I recommend the perfect wines for m clients – again, tough job I know.

So that folks is my first post abut my new life as a wine broker… I hope to update again soon with more happenings and maybe some wine nerd knowledge.

Cheers!

Another Step on the Path to Greatness

So on Monday I start my new career as a wine broker. Is this the path I want to be on for a long time (a fast track route to alcoholism) no not really. Without really knowing too much, I don’t think that this is going to be creative enough for me. I do however think that it is something I can do, without trying too hard. I have always prided myself in being a people person and believe that I can pretty much talk to anyone, so I think that this skill will come in handy with this new job. I hope to be able to sell the socks off these people and make a statement.

I also however am not closing the other doors behind me as this new one opens. I am still focusing my attention on getting myself to where I believe I should be. In the creative world – doing magical things. So I see this simply as a stepping stone – something to fund the path of the future.

I also hope to use this as a tool to meet people and hopefully extend my somewhat male dominated social circle. Adding some estrogen to the situation may be scary but may also quite refreshing.

I read an article the other day that said that, “Even though you need to get connected with others, WHO you choose to connect with can either make or break you.”

So although I don’t yet know my future colleagues I hope that they will be the kind of people that will help keep me on my desired path.

I hope to learn from these new people in my life and grow in a personal and professional capacity. I believe that you learn from everything in life and I see this as yet another learning platform along my way to greatness. I will take whatever I can away from this position and these people. I will take their ideas and their methods and hopefully out them to use in my own way. It takes a certain type of person to excel at sales and assuming my future colleagues are good at what they do, I hope to learn from them.

It is said, you are the sum of the 5 people you hang around with the most. I hope to extend my 5 and differentiate, making me a complex and interesting person. I hope to surround myself with people who share the same values and excitement levels as I do. They may not be excited as the same things as I am but who cares. Excitement feeds of excitement.

I feel that my 5 back home were amazing and made me who I am so I guess I hope to find another 5 who will keep me on that path. I had a little bit of crazy, a little bit of class, a lot of professionalism, mounds of creative genius, so much passion, more than enough love, sometimes too much fun but above all I was constantly surrounded by amazing people who had so much to do with everything that I am.

I need other people around me to inspire me to be hugely successful no matter what I do. And although this new job was not something I saw on my path, it has been put there and I plan to excel. It’s a job – it’s not a life sentence, and everything only builds on what you already have right?

Stand Strong South Africa

With the 2010 Soccer World Cup drawing to a very exciting close, we cannot help but applaud South Africa for putting on a wonderful show. OK so I was not actually there, but for a South African being away from home I have never felt so proud.

I have heard nothing but fantastic reports from locals and visitors - when in all honesty I was expecting otherwise. I will be the first to say that I was skeptical. I wasn't sure whether we could pull it off. I was one of those people thinking that logistically we could not cope with that amount of people. But I am glad to say that I was wrong.

After many years of planning, South Africa finally got their public transport system in order and succeeded to move hundreds of thousands of people within the cities without fail.

The Fan Parks and Fan walks were genius and served their purpose of reducing traffic and congestion and of course brining people together, giving them the opportunity to celebrate as one. After seeing the photo's and hearing the noise of these Fan Walk nights I can only wish that I could have been there to experience it. Never in my life would I have thought of walking from the middle of Town to Sea Point late at night - but it has been done, and safely.

It is so nice to think that so many people will be returning home (potentially with broken hearts due to a loss) with so many great stories and memories of their trip to South Africa.

One has to however ask the question - what is going to happen when the teams and tourists leave and the stadium lights switch off? I pray that things stay exactly the way they are. I hope that South African will remember how it feels to be a country united and happy. With everyone living and celebrating life together. No divides, no sadness, no crime.

South Africa you have shown that you can accomplish so much - the biggest thing - change. Lets keep it this way. It has brought such a smile to my face to see the photo's and the videos and hear the songs of happy people. Happy South Africans. Proud South Africans. South Africans waving flags and holding hands. Singing and dancing in the street. Showing the world what an amazing country we have and what amazing people we share it with.

Remember this feeling South Africa. Remember it and treasure it.

I am Proudly South African.

Lunch Is For Wimps

was recently asked to do a little bit of writing as part of an application for a job and I thought I would put that piece of writing to good use and hopefully by putting it further out into the universe it will bring me closer to the job. It's worth a try right?

Anyway - here it is.


A phrase made famous my Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas), Lunch is for Wimps, has sparked many thoughts and debates around the illusive lunch hour.

Back in the day a lunch hour was just that – a full hour where employees were given the chance to have a leisurely lunch, catch up with colleagues and simply relax. The logic behind lunch hours being that workers would happily return to work rejuvenated and ready to push themselves for the rest of the day.

Times are however changing and a lunch hour is commonly more like a lunch half-an-hour. In fact, studies show that 55% of workers are taking less than 30 minutes for lunch each day.

Many people wrongly think that this deteriorating lunch hour is due to mean employers forcing their workers to sit at their desks and starve, when in fact studies have shown that a shorter lunch hour is often at the hands of the hungry employees themselves.

Employees are beginning to see lunch hour as a dispensable luxury – by skipping lunch they are giving themselves more time to work and produce results. They feel that they are proving their loyalty to their employer, and in today’s world where everyone is doing whatever needs to be done to fight their way up the corporate ladder, this is just one more way of getting ahead.

But is desk-top dining really improving productivity? Just because you are physically sitting at your desk for 9 hours a day does that mean that you are working to your full potential for those 9 hours?

To give my two cents worth and as a “lunch at my desk” culprit, I can say that those extra sentences typed between mouthfuls can be crucial but it has also been proven that sunlight and fresh air are healthy additives to any work day. Standing up from your desk every now and then, if not to keep the blood flowing, might delay an email response for a few minutes but I’m sure employers would rather have healthy workers instead of emaciated corpses with bad circulation.


Victoria Maltby
Thursday, July 08, 2010

Follow Up - Adin is Reaching out to Oprah!

As a follow up to a previous blog, I wanted to update you on my very special friend, Adin – The No Money Guy.

Adin has had a forever dream to host his own TV show and by doing so, inspire people by recognizing inspiring people. He was therefore very excited to learn about a project the Oprah (you may have heard of her) and Mark Burnett are doing to give someone their very own TV show.

Adin went ahead and submitted his entry only to learn that he was inelligible due to the small fact that he was not a US resident and can therefore not legally work in the United States.

Our argument is that Adin does not want to work – well he wants to work towards his cause but he CANNOT and WILL NOT accept a salary as that would go against everything the No Money Guy Project aspires to. I have told him that I would gladly accept the salary on his behalf but that’s another story for another day.

The point is that we are hoping that if enough people see this video and follow Adin’s story that maybe it will land in the right hands – Oprah has eyes everywhere!

So again, all I ask is that you take a few mintues to watch the video– see for yourself. If you agree with me then please share the link anyway you can.

Watch Adin's entry HERE

Here's how you can help:

1. Become a fan of Your OWN Show and the The Oprah Winfrey Show
2. Share this video (or the Youtube version) and tag them in your post. You can do that by typing the @ sign then typing the name of those pages, they will appear in a drop down menu
3. Like it
4. Comment on it
5. Email or inbox it to your friends
6. Email this video to Oprah at Oprah.com
7. Or anything else you can think of!